A fourth funeral home is set to open in Haverhill – meaning the town has as many undertakers as GP practices.

East of England Co-Op – a different company to The Co-Operative – has confirmed that it will be opening a funeral director’s at 28 High Street, Haverhill. The branch is set to open before the end of the year.

This joins the Co-Operative Funeralcare, also in the High Street, H J Paintin in Haverhill’s Withersfield Road and Peasgood and Skeates, which opened earlier this year in Haverhill.

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Meanwhile, the town has just four GP practices, two in Camps Road, one in Greenfields Way, and one in Crown passage off the High Street.

But Cllr Betty McLatchy, who has campaigned for improvements to healthcare in Haverhill, said she was not worried.

'Important part of end of life'

She said healthcare was set to improve in the town, with a new ultrasound machine bought through community fundraising set to be up and running in the New Year.

She said about the increase in undertakers: “I would think there’s a need for it. It saves people having to travel out of town, and competition is good, isn’t it?

“It’s such an important part of the end of life to treat people properly. A quality undertaker is really worth having.

“It’s filling up shop space rather than having an empty shop.”

Expanding businesses

Phil Warner, of Peasgood and Skeates, which opened its branch in Queen Street in March this year, said: “We just saw it as a natural extension of our existing business in the area that we cover.”

Peasgood and Skeates is a local company with branches in Saffron Walden, Cambridge and Duxford. Mr Warner said it had already been providing funerals in the Haverhill area before the branch in the town opened.

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Andrew Dawes, head of funeral services at the East of England Co-Op, said that his company’s decision to open a branch in Haverhill was also based on its current trading practises.

He said: “Research indicates to us that the Haverhill community would benefit from an independent, co-operative funeral director in the town. This research is based upon detailed knowledge of the thousands of families who choose to use our services every year, and data published by the Office of National Statistics.”

It is expected that only one new job will be created as a result of the latest funeral parlour opening its doors.